• The Jury Experience – Death by AI: Who Pays the Price?

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    True immersive theatre: the audience is the jury at the heart of a live trial – hear the testimonies, consider the evidence, weigh the arguments ... and deliver a verdict. The case also seems very now: a driverless car is [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Global Positioning System

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    An ambitious large-scale group exhibition dedicated to mapping and navigation systems, "telling stories of fast cars and donkeys, spinning globes and street barricades, cosmic highways and broken bridges ... delves into topographies, transit lines and simulated landscapes to engage critically [ ... ]

    Free
  • Alserkal Art Month: weekend 4

    Alserkal Avenue Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    Here’s the schedule for the fourth weekend of Alserkal Avenue's Art Month: SATURDAY 9 MAY 4-5pm start at The Yard TOUR Slow Art Walk with Camilla Singh Artist, curator, and cultural strategist Camilla Singh leads a tour of three selected galleries [ ... ]

    Free
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Jumeirah Golf Estates – Earth Terrace Dubai

    A new stop for the Laughter Factory's May tour – note the earlier-than-usual start. On the bill: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his rapid-fire delivery [ ... ]

    AED 140
  • X Fest DXB: weekend 4

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The fourth weekend for the Junction's short play festival: each weekend features 10 to 11 original 10-minute plays, meaning audiences will get the chance to see a diverse lineup of stories, styles and performances in a single evening. Overall you [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • Season Special: Mini Maestro

    Courtyard Playhouse Street 4B, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Young performers take the stage for a mini version of Keith Johnstone’s competitive improv format with scenes, songs, and games inspired by audience suggestions. Performers are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 after each round; the player with [ ... ]

    Free
  • Desempleado Del Mes by Jorge Cremades

    Pepperoni Comedy Club 25 Jump Street 25h Hotel, One Central World Trade Center, Dubai

    Something of a rarity in Dubai – Spanish-language standup. Jorge offers sharp storytelling about everyday life, relationships, and the chaos of modern work culture  

    From AED 190
  • Joke Hub

    Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef Al Seef Street, Umm Hurair 1, Dubai

    A regular Mad Cat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" at "the first purpose built comedy room in the country". The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.

    AED 99
  • LAST CHANCE Khozema Al-Aaed: We Walk on Stories

    Firetti Contemporary Unit 29, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    Khozema Al‑Aaed's solo exhibition reimagines cartographies, reminding us that land absorbs our movements, our wounds, our hopes, "becoming a living archive of human presence" as the gallery puts it. "The compositions resemble traces of cities once inhabited, imagined, or departed. [ ... ]

    Free
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Studio One Hotel Dubai Studio City, Dubai

    The regular Abu Dhabi stop for the Laughter Factory's May tour, with an earlier-than-usual start: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his rapid-fire delivery and the [ ... ]

    AED 140
  • Sunday Night Comedy

    Social Distrikt The Pointe, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

    Dubomedy's highly successful comedy gig at Hushh in Social Distrikt. We're promised "a fantastic lineup of comedians, big laughs, and great vibes"; and indeed much of that seems to be the case ... It's free, but there's a minimum spend [ ... ]

    Free, but min spend of one item
  • X Fest DXB: weekend 4

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The fourth weekend for the Junction's short play festival: each weekend features 10 to 11 original 10-minute plays, meaning audiences will get the chance to see a diverse lineup of stories, styles and performances in a single evening. Overall you [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • Same Air

    Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

    A group exhibition bringing together 14 artists from the Gulf, presenting works connected by the same place and the same moment. "Without a prescribed theme or formal directive they began to create. The works that came forth, unfinished, unresolved, and [ ... ]

    Free
  • Art Seeding Festival: Al Khayat Chapter

    Al Khayat Avenue 10 19 Street, Al Quoz, Dubai

    An interesting concept: "art can be 'seeded' into the urban environment, where it evolves over time through interaction with people, space, and context ... Rather than presenting finished works within gallery walls, the festival invites artists to engage directly with [ ... ]

    Free
  • Farshid Shafiey, Atieh Sohrab, Baran Shafiey: All in the Family

    Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A group show for three artists whose work here explores the dialogue that emerges between generations of artists, revealing how personal histories, cultural memory, and individual artistic languages intersect. Through painting and illustration, the artists reflect on themes of identity, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Kevork Mourad: The Echoes of Silent Bells

    Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors and raised in Syria, Mourad approaches his work with a profound sense of responsibility to preserve culture and history; his practice aims to give voice to places that no longer exist, offering an interpretation [ ... ]

    Free
  • Sultan Bin Fahad: Blue Note

    Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    This exhibition by the Saudi artist embraces the experimentation of jazz, commemorating its role as an audiovisual gathering for culture to flourish from and exact its designs on the world as it moved from older models of audiovisual art – [ ... ]

    Free
  • Fridge Concert Series 49: Sandra Ivette

    The Fridge Warehouse Warehouse 5, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    The very cool, very classy Cuban artist Sandra Ivette plays bass and sings at the same time, leading her six-piece band through son, trova, danzón, and jazz. She's premiering her debut album Comienzo, never performed live until now ... Advance [ ... ]

    AED 100
  • The Comedy Lab @ Easy Tiger

    Al Ain Palace Hotel Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    Mad Cat’s standup team at their regular stop at the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...

    AED 99
  • Un monde merveilleux: dir Giulio Callegari (2024)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Three more performances of this sharp, witty, very urban contemporary comedy of relationships. Worn down by 25 years together, Xavier and Sophie seem to be running on empty: neighbours Adèle and Alban come round for dinner, and these uninhibited people [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • Time That Grows Slowly

    Dom Art Projects Al Khayat Avenue, Dubai

    A group exhibition based around site-specific installations and considering ecological, feminist, philosophical, and postcolonial concerns. The core inspiration however is “philosophical reflections of time as growth rather than movement ... Time, as humans experience it, is inseparable from the vegetal. [ ... ]

    Free
  • Petr Kirusha: Every moment is a fresh beginning

    Dom Art Projects Al Khayat Avenue, Dubai

    A solo show featuring works that Petr Kirusha developed during his residency at Dom Art Projects. At a time of heightened geopolitical tension between the US and Iran, Kirusha documented the landscapes of Al Quoz and the rapidly changing cityscape [ ... ]

    Free
  • Inherited Lines

    La Galerie, Alliance Française Dubai Alliance Française Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Combining language, heritage, and expression, the world of Arabic calligraphy offers centuries of tradition for artists to draw upon. Curated by DiarBid ArtHouse and presented by Dubai Culture and Alliance Française Dubai, this exhibition features established artists, calligraphers, and instructors [ ... ]

    Free
  • Wednesday Night Impro: Maestro

    Courtyard Playhouse Street 4B, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]

    Free
  • Shalabia Ibrahim: Fields of Memory

    Artbooth Gallery Centro Capital Center, Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street, Abu Dhabi

    A solo exhibition promising “a rare and intimate journey into a visual language shaped by the intersections of Egyptian and Syrian modernities”. Born in Egypt and long based in Syria, Ibrahim’s practice is informed by the visual traditions of the [ ... ]

    Free
  • Cats

    Etihad Arena Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

    The spectacular (and spectacularly successful) Andrew Lloyd Webber musical settles into Etihad Arena for two consecutive long weekends. Look for decent songs, great choreography and staging, and a well-paced plot (not always the case with musicals ...) Friday/Saturday prices start [ ... ]

    From AED 90
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Radisson DAMAC Hills Hessa Street Dubailand, Dubai

    First of two consecutive nights at the Radisson for the Laughter Factory's May tour – note the earlier-than-usual start: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his [ ... ]

    AED 140
  • Maktaba: A Speculative Thought Circle II

    421 Arts Campus Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Maktaba is 421's monthly gathering dedicated to collective reading, viewing, and discussion across disciplines. For this second iteration, multidisciplinary and performance artist Yoonsik Chico Park leads a dialogue around performance studies: together, participants will "examine, synthesise, and speculate the alternative [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • LAST CHANCE All at Once

    JD Malat Gallery ACT 2 Tower, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Blvd 13A ,Downtown Dubai, Dubai

    A group exhibition that reflects on continuity, resilience, and quiet optimism at a time when the world can feel uncertain. Says the gallery: "All at Once speaks to the coexistence of multiple realities – personal and shared, fleeting and enduring, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Art Dubai Special Edition

    Madinat Jumeirah Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Art Dubai’s rescheduled 2026 incarnation has a basic shape as before – a fair with Contemporary, Modern and Digital gallery sections – but there are some significant changes. For a start, of course, there are many fewer commercial galleries involved: [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Radisson DAMAC Hills Hessa Street Dubailand, Dubai

    A second night at the Radisson for the Laughter Factory's May tour: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his rapid-fire delivery and the sheer quantity of [ ... ]

    AED 140
  • Short+Sweet Dubai: People’s Choice Semi-Finals

    New Covent Garden Theatre Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

    The semi finals weekend of the festival of 10-minute plays, today being for the People's Choices. The best playlets will return to compete for the top prizes on the Gala Weekend, 23-24 May. Times, dates, prices: 3.00-5.00pm 16 May AED [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • Short+Sweet Dubai: Judge’s Choice Semi-Finals

    New Covent Garden Theatre Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

    The semi finals weekend of the festival of 10-minute plays, today being for the Judge's Choices. The best playlets will return to compete for the top prizes on the Gala Weekend, 23-24 May. Times, dates, prices: 3.00-5.00pm 17 May AED 150 [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • LAST CHANCE Maggie Otieno: Sojourner – The Difference Is the Same

    Efiɛ Gallery 2 Al Khayat Art Avenue, First Al Khail Street, Dubai

    Otieno’s first solo presentation with Efie centres on her signature transformation of reclaimed and distressed materials. Working across wood, metal, and mixed media, her semi-abstract forms explore layered narratives of history, memory, human interaction, and environmental survival.

    Free
  • Safwan Dahoul – The Eye: An Aperture Into the Soul

    Ayyam Gallery B11, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Safwan Dahoul’s most recent body of work continues his Dream series – an ongoing body of work investigating the dream state that he began back in the late 1980s, exploring "the physical and psychological effects of alienation, solitude, and longing [ ... ]

    Free
  • In Abstracto, In Concreto: On Memory and Presence

    Efiɛ Gallery 2 Al Khayat Art Avenue, First Al Khail Street, Dubai

    A summer-long group show for Luke Agada, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ludovic Nkoth, and Naila Opiangah, curated by Brice Arsène Yonkeu – whose curatorial statement defines the show as "an encounter with works on paper and paintings that move between visibility and [ ... ]

    Free
  • Collage Art Exhibition

    Kutubna Cultural Center Madina Avenues 17, Nadd Al Hamar, Dubai

    More than 70 artworks for 43 artists, included those who responded to an open call – "a bold exploration of contemporary collage art" says Kutubna, promising "work with paint, paper, textiles, photography, digital collage, and found materials to build layered [ ... ]

    Free
  • Postcard Poems with Balqees Alhawamdeh

    421 Arts Campus Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Writer and poet Balqees Alhawamdeh invites participants to explore poetry in an approachable and creative way by crafting a short poem as a visual composition using colour, collage, and form. It starts with a line from a poem or a [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • X Fest DXB: weekend 4

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The penultimate weekend for the Junction's short play festival: if you've been attending all performances, you could have seen something like 70 original 10-minute plays by now ... The strongest return to the stage to compete for the top honours [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • X Fest DXB: weekend 4

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The penultimate weekend for the Junction's short play festival: if you've been attending all performances, you could have seen something like 70 original 10-minute plays by now ... The strongest return to the stage to compete for the top honours [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • The Laughter Factory Premium Comedy Club

    Dukes The Palm Palm Dubai, Dubai

    The final gig for the Laughter Factory's May tour: Rory O'Hanlon as Irish as his name suggest: described by Chortle as having “presence, poise and timing”, he's famous for his rapid-fire delivery and the sheer quantity of jokes in his [ ... ]

    AED 140
  • Joke Hub

    Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef Al Seef Street, Umm Hurair 1, Dubai

    A regular Mad Cat Comedy night – "Dubai's wildest comedy show on Saturday" at "the first purpose built comedy room in the country". The cover charge of AED 99 includes two F&B coupons.

    AED 99
  • Un monde merveilleux: dir Giulio Callegari (2024)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A satirical comedy of the near future: unemployed Max (Blanche Gardin) struggles to earn a living by selling stolen robot parts on the black market. But her latest ‘acquisition’, T-0, is too old for the fence; her 10-year-old daughter Paula [ ... ]

    AED 45
  • Fridge Concert Series 49: Célinedee Matahari

    The Fridge Warehouse Warehouse 5, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    The Dubai-born French-Indonesian singer-songwriter is fluent in several languages, writes much of her own material, has performed for heads of state and royalty, earned praise from Shania Twain at the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi, and was spotted by [ ... ]

    AED 100
  • The Comedy Lab @ Easy Tiger

    Al Ain Palace Hotel Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

    Mad Cat’s standup team at their regular stop at the Easy Tiger bar in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain Palace. The door price of AED 99 includes two drinks ...

    AED 99
  • LAST CHANCE Collector’s Entry Point

    Fann à Porter The Workshop, Villa 45, St. 23b, off Al Wasl Road (opposite Box Park), Jumeirah 2, Dubai

    A group show of works by emerging, mid-career and established artists priced at $3,000 and below, conceived as an accessible entry into collecting "whether you’re just starting or looking to expand your collection with thoughtful additions". The artists: Ahmad Kasha [ ... ]

    Free
  • Wednesday Night Impro: Maestro

    Courtyard Playhouse Street 4B, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The Courtyard's popular evening of elimination improv. Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with [ ... ]

    Free
  • LAST CHANCE White

    XVA Gallery Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood, Bur Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The annual Faculty exhibition of the Academy of Visual Arts at the University of the Arts, Sharjah. The curator is Tor Seidel, filmmaker and lecturer in photography and video at the Academy, and his statement includes this summary of the show: [ ... ]

    Free
  • Nataly Aukar

    New Covent Garden Theatre Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

    Lebanese-born NYC-based comic, a regular at Gotham Comedy Club and Union Hall shows in Brooklyn when she's not touring – which she does a lot. This is a new show, touring around Europe and North America as well as this [ ... ]

    From AED 200